


"I Love You"

by koalathebear



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Morning Cuddles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-24
Updated: 2015-05-24
Packaged: 2018-04-01 00:26:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3998956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/koalathebear/pseuds/koalathebear
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's no wonder that Felicity finds the words "I love you" from Oliver Queen to be somewhat traumatising ...</p><p>Just a bit of silly fluffy set after the season 3 finale.</p>
            </blockquote>





	"I Love You"

**Author's Note:**

> Set after 3.23 My Name Is Oliver Queen.

Sunlight streams through the window of the beach-front cottage. Oliver smiles as Felicity comes staggering back to the bed. She's not a morning person at all.

"No nerds are morning people," she has told him before. "We IT People are creatures of darkness .. night owls, kept awake by coffee, energy drinks, sugar and willpower …"

When she woke up earlier this morning, she stumbled to the bathroom like a zombie to pee, wash her face and brush her teeth. It's a cute habit of hers, brushing her teeth before staggering back to the bed to snatch a few minutes extra sleep.

"Morning breath," she tells him seriously. "It will kill the romance before it starts. Never try to kiss me before I've brushed my teeth … it would be sad if after all we've gone through – saving the world, you coming back from the dead - morning breath is our undoing."

So he does it, too - brushes his teeth after he wakes up just so that he can steal the early morning kisses from her that he has come to crave … 

She flops face-down onto the bed beside him, smelling of minty toothpaste and the hand soap from the bathroom that smells of citrus. 

He lifts his hand touches a fingertip to the scar on the back of her bare right shoulder. Unlike his own body, twisted and marked with scar tissue that covers more than 20 per cent of his body. Scars from cuts, burns and bullet-wounds. In contrast, Felicity's skin is largely unblemished.

Except for this scar. It's a souvenir of the confrontation with Tockman. She had saved Sara's life, an action as brave as it was foolhardy and unexpected. 

He lowers his head and presses his lips to the scar lingeringly and she turns her head to look at him sleepily. "You kissing my scar, Mr Queen?" she mumbles and he smiles at her. Without her bright lipstick and make-up, she looks almost child-like.

"Why not? You've kissed mine," he says huskily and it's true. Felicity's lips have travelled slowly and lingeringly over his scars as if somehow she could heal them with love alone. In return, his mouth has also explored her body with love and skill, knowing exactly how to bring her to the point of release, prolonging sensation and then letting her dissolve into pleasure.

She rolls onto her back, her tousled blonde hair falling about her face as she is more awake now and studying him with bright-eyed curiosity.

When she asked him where they were going, he really didn't know … and here they are, living in a small cottage by the beach, his Nanda Parbat marriage still undissolved, but things are good between them nonetheless. He's tending bar at the local tourist resort and she's head of IT at the same resort… he hasn't even had to tap into his still substantial trust fund to ensure they have enough for rent, groceries and utilities.

He reaches out and draws her against his side. He can hear the sound of the waves crashing on the beach. It's hard for him to believe that it's possible for him to hear the sound of the ocean without the nightmare of Liàn Yù consuming him but somehow, here he is … lying in a small, sunny room with the sound of the sea outside the window … and he's happy.

"Felicity, I – " he starts to say but she reaches up and puts her hand over his mouth.

"No, don't," she tells him, a look of dread in her eyes. "I mean … it never ends well … the first time you told me you loved me, you didn't even mean it … I mean you loved Laurel … or maybe it was Sara … which one was it that you loved at the time? It certainly wasn't me given that you were so quick to throw me to Slade Wilson as bait … but yeah … 'I love you' followed by you stuffing a syringe in my hand wasn't the best of memories …"

"Uh – " Oliver tried to interject.

_And you love her. You even told her so._

_I was trying to fool Slade._

_Yes. Except now the only person you're fooling is yourself._

Felicity ignores him and continues babbling. "And then there was that second time … you said you loved me and I guess you meant it at that point – which don’t get me wrong, that was wonderful - but then you left me to fight a duel with Ra's al Ghul which you were highly likely to lose … and you did … and you died … sort of …and you kind of broke my heart … " Her lip quivers and Oliver stares at her, stricken with remorse.

"… and then the third time, you didn't precisely say you loved me but you kissed me and told me not to ask me to say that you don't love me – but that was because you were about to break up with me … of course you couldn't actually break up with me because we weren't even going out because one date, especially one in which there was an explosion that knocked me out doesn't really count as going out … "

"Felicity – "

"No, let me finish. You have to hear this. Then you tell me you love me all the more for drugging you – because I was trying to stop you from throwing your life away and becoming the new Ra's al Ghul … but it failed and you stayed and I thought you'd turned evil and you broke my heart all over again when you came back to Starling City … I thought it couldn't hurt any more than it did until you tried to poison us all … So no, please don’t tell me you love me anymore. I have bad associations with that phrase," she tells him firmly, eyes bright with tears.

"Are you ever going to let me get a word in edgewise, Felicity?" he asks her gently, his eyes tender and loving.

"OK, go for it," she mumbles and he lowers his mouth to hers and kisses her lingeringly, parting her lips so that his tongue slides against hers.

"I was actually just going to tell you that I was going to make us coffee but – "

"Oh God… really?" she demands, mortified as she flushes with embarrassment.

"You raised a valid point … several of them actually," he tells her firmly as he brushes the hair from her face. "You can't be blamed for having such negative associations with the phrase," he acknowledges. "I want to be with you, Felicity … and I swear I will spend every moment trying to prove to you that I love you …" She flinches. "I'm not going anywhere … " he promises her. "Even when I told you I loved you when Slade was listening … I realised as soon as I said it that it was true … " She stares at him, understandably sceptical.

"I love the way you babble … I love the way you steal the sheets …" She begins to soften beneath his touch despite herself and he smiles and brushes another smile across her mouth.

"I even want to kiss you first thing in the morning, morning breath be damned," he teases her and she gives a shriek of laughter which then subsides into a gasp of pleasure as his mouth slides down her body tantalisingly.

"OK, I believe you – you really _do_ love me," she mumbles as her fingers clutch the sheets convulsively and she completely forgets the power of speech.

**end**


End file.
